VOC injection into a house reveals large surface reservoir sizes in an indoor environment.

ABSTRACT: The total partitioning capacity of indoor surface reservoirs determines the mechanism by which humans receive nondietary exposure to organic contaminants, via inhalation, dermal uptake, and dust ingestion. And yet, this capacity is largely unknown. Surface organic films are ubiquitously present but have very low partitioning volume being only 10's of nanometer thick, whereas other surface reservoirs such as building materials and furnishings can be permeable or porous with large surface areas at the molecular level. Here, we assess the total partitioning capacity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in an indoor environment from the measured kinetics of VOC surface uptake after injection of compounds with variable volatility into a well-characterized, unoccupied test house. We show that th

SUBMITTER: Yu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12501166 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature